K3 and the ARRL DX contest - A conundrum

[Gary Smith-2]

I've got the K3 and even the precision txco. When I am in most normal
qsos 1:1 I have no issues bring the digital filter to 50Hz and having
a delightful QSO. I do not believe my tx/rx frequency is off.

However during the contest I would narrow the DX to within 200Hz and
call them and so often I was never heard. I started experimenting
around and found the stations they (They meaning a very high % of DX
stations being called) were going back to stations transmitting lower
in frequency than I was.

I played a game and used my narrow filter to 200Hz, found them where
they were coming in the most clear and then used the XIT to transmit
down by -30 and I started snagging them left and right. I left it
this way in the pigpile and then did very well.

If I have normal QSOs say with another elecraft I am dead on, But
till I did this in the the contest, my Q's were suffering.

Any ideas this might bring up?

P.S. did well anyway, 794 Qs 830,2171 points It was my first time
logging with N1MM, a most interesting program. I was learning it on
the fly during the contest. Definitely was a fun time.

73,
Gary
KA1J
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[Bob - W0GI]

<<<< Any ideas this might bring up? >>>>

There are lots of old radios out there that don't have the offsets aligned properly.

You just have to make a wild guess sometimes. :>)

[Rick Prather]

Gary,

You are going to reveal the "secret" that I learned (after 50 years) during the contest!

I kept gripping to myself about how many people were calling the DX as much as 500 Hz or so off freq.  I was dutifully using the auto-spot function on my K3 and patting myself on the back for coming back dead on the DX freq.

Finally a light went off and instead of complaining about the off freq calls I started using the auto-spot to zero in on the calling station instead of the DX.  Bingo, my rate probably doubled!   Seemed like every time I zero-beated the calling station I got a response.

Noodling over this caused me to realize that if the DX us using a K3 or similar excellent receiver with a very narrow filter and he has tuned away to pick someone up then he will hear a call on the other stations freq and not on his own.   Eureka!  many successful S&P Q's.

My procedure became to auto spot the last calling station and then if I could still hear the DX (although off freq) leave it alone and call him.  If not, then I would stay on the calling freq and use the RIT to hear the DX.

All of a sudden I started picking up answers on the first call consistently.

At any rate the Auto-spot worked beautifully; just not by spotting the DX but by spotting the caller.

Rick
K6LE

On 2/24/2010, at 1:04 , Gary Smith wrote:

> I've got the K3 and even the precision txco. When I am in most normal
> qsos 1:1 I have no issues bring the digital filter to 50Hz and having
> a delightful QSO. I do not believe my tx/rx frequency is off.
>
> However during the contest I would narrow the DX to within 200Hz and
> call them and so often I was never heard. I started experimenting
> around and found the stations they (They meaning a very high % of DX
> stations being called) were going back to stations transmitting lower
> in frequency than I was.
>
> I played a game and used my narrow filter to 200Hz, found them where
> they were coming in the most clear and then used the XIT to transmit
> down by -30 and I started snagging them left and right. I left it
> this way in the pigpile and then did very well.
>
> If I have normal QSOs say with another elecraft I am dead on, But
> till I did this in the the contest, my Q's were suffering.
>
> Any ideas this might bring up?
>
> P.S. did well anyway, 794 Qs 830,2171 points It was my first time
> logging with N1MM, a most interesting program. I was learning it on
> the fly during the contest. Definitely was a fun time.
>
> 73,
> Gary
> KA1J
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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>
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> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

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[n7ws]

It should be noted that another "secret" is that sometimes the DX station tunes his receive frequency with some pattern.  So you don't want to be on either his calling frequency or the frequency of the last guy he worked; you want to be on a frequency near where he is going to listen next.

Some years ago I heard a big DXexpedition op say, "Listening five to ten up (pause) and 14190."  I worked him on the first call on 14190. By coincidence, he was the banquet speaker at Visalia after that and actually mentioned this while exhorting the audience to *listen* to what the op is saying.

Similarly, a week ago TX4T was on 12-meter CW.  He announced, QSY to SSB.  Anyone believing their website would have looked for them on 24985 listening *down*.  I found him on 24980 announcing listening up and was the first station to work him.  He was about S2.  With my lousy antenna I would have been dead meat in a pileup.

If you're a little pistol and you want to waste time, click on the reflector spot, auto-tune to zero beat the pileup push the message button and call.  If you actually want to work him move around a little bit.

Wes  N7WS


--- On Wed, 2/24/10, K6LE <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Gary,
>
> You are going to reveal the "secret" that I learned (after
> 50 years) during the contest!
>
> I kept gripping to myself about how many people were
> calling the DX as much as 500 Hz or so off freq.  I was
> dutifully using the auto-spot function on my K3 and patting
> myself on the back for coming back dead on the DX freq.
>
> Finally a light went off and instead of complaining about
> the off freq calls I started using the auto-spot to zero in
> on the calling station instead of the DX.  Bingo, my
> rate probably doubled!   Seemed like every
> time I zero-beated the calling station I got a response.
>
> Noodling over this caused me to realize that if the DX us
> using a K3 or similar excellent receiver with a very narrow
> filter and he has tuned away to pick someone up then he will
> hear a call on the other stations freq and not on his
> own.   Eureka!  many successful S&P
> Q's.
>
> My procedure became to auto spot the last calling station
> and then if I could still hear the DX (although off freq)
> leave it alone and call him.  If not, then I would stay
> on the calling freq and use the RIT to hear the DX.
>
> All of a sudden I started picking up answers on the first
> call consistently.
>
> At any rate the Auto-spot worked beautifully; just not by
> spotting the DX but by spotting the caller.
>
> Rick
> K6LE
>
> On 2/24/2010, at 1:04 , Gary Smith wrote:
>
> > I've got the K3 and even the precision txco. When I am
> in most normal
> > qsos 1:1 I have no issues bring the digital filter to
> 50Hz and having
> > a delightful QSO. I do not believe my tx/rx frequency
> is off.
> >
> > However during the contest I would narrow the DX to
> within 200Hz and
> > call them and so often I was never heard. I started
> experimenting
> > around and found the stations they (They meaning a
> very high % of DX
> > stations being called) were going back to stations
> transmitting lower
> > in frequency than I was.
> >
> > I played a game and used my narrow filter to 200Hz,
> found them where
> > they were coming in the most clear and then used the
> XIT to transmit
> > down by -30 and I started snagging them left and
> right. I left it
> > this way in the pigpile and then did very well.
> >
> > If I have normal QSOs say with another elecraft I am
> dead on, But
> > till I did this in the the contest, my Q's were
> suffering.
> >
> > Any ideas this might bring up?
> >
> > P.S. did well anyway, 794 Qs 830,2171 points It was my
> first time
> > logging with N1MM, a most interesting program. I was
> learning it on
> > the fly during the contest. Definitely was a fun
> time.
> >
> > 73,
> > Gary
> > KA1J

     
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[John Harper AE5X]

Gary,

Rick, you do realize that the more people that know this, the more difficult the pile-ups will become don't you?!

John Harper
http://www.ae5x.com/blog



>My procedure became to auto spot the last calling station and then if I could still hear the DX (although off freq) leave it alone and call him.  If not, then I >would stay on the calling freq and use the RIT to hear the DX.
>
>All of a sudden I started picking up answers on the first call consistently.
>
>At any rate the Auto-spot worked beautifully; just not by spotting the DX but by spotting the caller.
>
>Rick
>K6LE






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[Rick Prather]

John,

Yes I do!

And I hesitated to even mention it but decided that in the sprit of a level playing field I would share with this select group..

After 50 years of having a license I felt like an idiot when I stumbled on this logic but I think I noticed it because of the excellent ability of the CWT system. Of course in a DX pile up working split it is obvious that finding the worked stations freq is important but in a contest I never thought of working "mini-split". I found myself proudly using CW on every call and being smug in the realization that I, unlike most others, was dead on the run stations frequency.  But, I wasn't getting some of the expected return calls.  

When I finally had the epiphany that the run station was listening on the last worked stations freq even if off a few hundred Hz my rate went way up.  

Probably the run stations that were most affected by this were K3 operators since if they had it cranked down to minimum they never heard me when I was on their freq.   Darn K3!

Rick
K6LE

On 2/25/2010, at 1:06 , John Harper wrote:

>
>
> Gary,
>
> Rick, you do realize that the more people that know this, the more difficult the pile-ups will become don't you?!
>
> John Harper
> http://www.ae5x.com/blog
>

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